Barack Obama, His Implicit Endorsement, and Racism

My children took me to see Michael Che back when Obama was the president. He quipped that he, as a Black man, would rather hang out with George W. Bush than Barack Obama. He said he just imagined it would be more fun with Bush slapping his knee and asking him if he knew another joke than for Obama to tell him, "Now, Michael, we don't talk about women that way around here."

While Che's joke is really a statement of Obama's character and serious nature on one hand, it is also social commentary about the difference that the character of a person makes on really important matters. One of the most memorable comedic quips with deep social commentary at its base was when Wanda Sykes answered the question "What is soul food?" with "the second-leading cause of death of Black men under 50." The deeper meaning is for us to ponder what the leading cause of death for Black men under 50 is, and, once I say it that way, the social commentary becomes more obvious.

In both cases, what the comedians said were funny. In both cases, what the comedians implied were really more significant. It makes us think and ponder what is meant. Comedy works like that sometimes.